Category: 2019

ArmInfo. Due to the illegal blockade of roads leading to the Amulsar deposit, over the past 6 months, 1,300 people (of whom 460 are residents of communities  surrounding the mine) were employed by Lydian, and its contracting  companies lost their jobs. 

This is stated in the official communication of the company.According  to the source, Lydian continues to monitor the social situation in  the communities, which is a component of the company's social  responsibility. The monitoring also includes migration indicators,  which were collected on the basis of data provided by employment  centers, community elders and employees of the company's social  group. 

According to the data obtained, the outflow of the population for the  period starting from the time of the blockade of roads to this day  increased annually, whereas during the period of construction work on  the Amulsar deposit in Gndevaz, Goraik and Saravan communities there  were no cases of migration. So, at the end of 2018, 6 people migrated  from the community of Gndevaz, 12 from Saravan. Migrants on a  permanent basis from Jermuk, there are 64 people, against 34 people  in the same period a year earlier.

However, along with the completion of construction work, seasonal  migration has increased in all 4 communities. According to the data  received, the number of temporarily migrated citizens for seasonal  work from Jermuk was 219 people, against 80 people a year earlier in  the same period.The blockade of Amulsar roads not only led to the  loss of several hundred direct jobs, but also had a negative impact  on indirect jobs in these communities: <During 2017, contractor  companies in the communities made purchases of $ 200 thousand (food,  fuel, transport and hotel services, etc.). These ongoing significant  financial flows created significant opportunities for local business  growth, expansion and job creation. And since June 2018, due to the  illegal blockade of roads, this possibility has disappeared>, the  report says.Recall that Lydian Armenia is a subsidiary of British  Lydian International, whose shareholders are also major international  institutional investors from the United States, Great Britain, and a  number of European countries, including the EBRD. 

The Amulsar project is the largest industrial project in Armenia  today for the development of the Amulsar gold deposit with a total  value of $ 370 million. In August 2016, the project for the  construction and development of the deposit was launched. Preparatory  work has been going on since 2006. The life of the Amulsarsky deposit  will be 10 years and 4 months, with an average of 200 thousand ounces  of gold (about 10 million tons of ore) planned annually. The stock is  listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Amulsar deposit is the second  largest reserves in Armenia.Note that since June 2018. The roads  leading to the Amulsar deposit  are closed by a group of people  opposing the mine.

ArmInfo. Antagonism is growing in the societies of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan regarding the relativity of the possibility of a compromise solution to the  Karabakh issue. Alexander Krylov, President of the Scientific Society  of Caucasus Caused Studies, Chief Researcher of the IMEMO RAN  expressed this opinion, during the Yerevan-Moscow TV bridge.

According to him, this trend is particularly obvious in Armenian  society. "Perhaps this is due to recent political processes in  Armenia – opponents of Prime Minister Pashinyan and the new  authorities are trying to create uncompromising attitudes in the  society in order to put the country's leadership in a difficult  position in the negotiations. Under such conditions no one in Armenia  or in Azerbaijan will not compromise against the will of the people;  it will become a political suicide ", the expert explained.

Taking into account the prevailing circumstances, according to him,  it is not excluded the resumption of hostilities or the establishment  of an international dictate in the conflict zone. "Both options,  obviously, do not proceed from the interests of the parties," he  concluded.

ArmInfo. After a period of depression that we have seen in Azerbaijani society recently, a certain shake-up occurred in the country at the beginning of this year, Arif Yunusov, Head of the Department of Conflictology at the Institute for Peace and Democracy (Netherlands) expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo.

"This shake-up was largely due to the case of Mehman Huseynov, a blogger who shot video materials about corrupt officials, as well as the ruling family in Azerbaijan. As a result he was imprisoned on completely fabricated charges, a common practice in modern Azerbaijan. Now, in addition to this, our authorities have recently decided to revive the old Stalinist practice, when the following rule was applied to political prisoners: before the end of the prison sentence, on a false pretext, new articles of the prosecution and the term were added to their case",  he said.

On January 19, an opposition rally in support of political prisoners was held at the Mehsul Stadium in Baku. According to the organizers, more than 20 thousand people took part in the action. The protesters demanded the release of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, who was on a hunger strike, and also demanded the resignation of Ilham Aliyev.

According to Yunusov, one of these prisoners, Mehman Huseynov, could not stand the use of Stalinist methods in his attitude and in response went on a hunger strike. According to estimates of the human rights activist, this action has found great support in society. Not only representatives of the opposition joined the action, but even political prisoners began hunger strike in prisons. After that, a well-known resolution of the European Parliament followed, which even more stirred up Azerbaijani society.

On January 17, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Azerbaijan, which focused on the violation of human rights in this country. The reason for the adoption of the resolution was the conclusion and extension of Mehman Huseynov's term.

"All this factors have led to the rally, where much more people came than expected by many, especially the authorities. As a result, the authorities and Ilham Aliyev personally are obviously confused. They now have a bad luck, especially in relations with Europeans. But they so far have enough resources and therefore currently it is too early to talk about the likelihood of the development of revolutionary events following the example of Armenia, "Yunusov summed up.